California Today: Clashes, Again, in Berkeley

Image

Thousands of people demonstrated against hatred in San Francisco on Saturday. Some invoked the death of Heather D. Heyer, the woman run down during violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va.CreditCreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Tensions were high in the days leading up to a pair of right wing rallies planned in the San Francisco Bay Area over the weekend.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers were placed on duty in hopes of avoiding a replay of the violence that unfolded this month in Charlottesville, Va.

But at the last moment, both events seemed uncertain — a “No to Marxism in America” rally in Berkeley was denied a permit by the city and a “Freedom Rally” in San Francisco was canceled by its organizer, who cited fears of violence.

That didn’t stop a number of planned counterprotests, which by then had a momentum of their own.

Largely peaceful demonstrations in San Francisco — including the formation of a giant heart on the beach — contrasted with chaotic scenes in Berkeley, where the mayor, Jesse Arreguin, had urged residents to gather on the streets to show their rejection of bigotry and white supremacy.

Wish granted.

Marchers in Berkeley on Sunday chanted, among other slogans, “Nazi scum get off our streets!” and “Whose streets? Our streets!”

The crowd included a large group of black-clad antifa adherents, who believe that physical confrontation is a necessary and effective means of combating neo Nazis. There were also church groups, U.C. Berkeley students and Berkeley residents who carried signs denouncing hate.

The protests were at times festive and at other times tense. The counterdemonstrators far outnumbered a small number of right-wing protesters.

Trump supporters and people associated with the far-right were at times surrounded and chased away. It was mob rule with occasional intervention by police officers.

Video posted by Reveal, an investigative journalism group, showed the organizer of the fizzled San Francisco rally, Joey Gibson, being chased and sprayed with a substance by people shouting “Fascist go home!”

Johnny Benitez, a protester who flew from Southern California and who described himself as a “Second Amendment-exercising, freedom-loving, proud American” on his Twitter page, had to be escorted to a car by a phalanx of police officers as counterprotesters hounded him.

A number of scuffles broke out between antifa protesters, who carried anarchist flags, and those they perceived to be on the right.

By midafternoon, with the crowds dispersed, the Berkeley police had made at least 13 arrests.

Jim Wilson, our Bay Area photographer, captured some of the scenes:

Image

Counterprotesters gathered at Martin Luther King Civic Center Park in Berkeley.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Image

People identified as members of the radical group antifa came bearing shields.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Image

Antifa counterprotesters in Berkeley hid their faces.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Image

A woman was arrested during demonstrations in Berkeley on Sunday.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Image

San Francisco counterprotesters danced in the street on Saturday.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

California Online

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

Image

Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Expedia, takes over a company that has been pummeled by scandal after scandal.CreditRob Latour/Rex Features, via AP images

• Uber chose the leader of Expedia to be its chief executive, ending a contentious search as it moves past the Travis Kalanick era. [The New York Times]

• Lawmakers are pushing a bill that would provide $3 billion to help people buy electric cars in a dramatic expansion of subsidies. [Los Angeles Times]

• “Some people really focus on marketing. I focus on getting the job done right.” John Chiang has been less vocal than his rivals in the race for governor. [NBC News]

• California dispatched eight search and rescue teams to help in the response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas. [Los Angeles Daily News]

• Gabriel Tallent’s “My Absolute Darling” is set on the coast of Northern California. Stephen King declared the book a “masterpiece” on par with “Catch-22” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” [The New York Times]

Image

A scene from “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” directed by Tobe Hooper. Gunnar Hansen, who played the villain, Leatherface, died in 2015.CreditBryanston Distributing, via Photofest

• Tobe Hooper died in Los Angeles at 74. The director of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” showed just how terrifying a chain saw in the wrong hands could be. [The New York Times]

• Video: A Bengal tiger cub confiscated at the Mexican border is being cared for at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. [CBS 8]

And Finally ...

This month, the historic Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro added a giant mural by the artist Kent Yoshimura.CreditKent Yoshimura

California has been enjoying something of a public mural boom.

Over the last five years, Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Sacramento, among othercities, have each transformed dozens of formerly drab outdoor walls with colorful artworks.

Evan Meyer, the founder of Beautify Earth, a nonprofit that promotes public murals, attributed the movement in part to a growing appreciation for murals as an antidote to blight.

Public art, he said, represents a win not just for the artist and the community, but also for the property owner that provides the canvas.

“It’s being recognized as something that can drive increased foot traffic,” Mr. Meyer said. “Because it’s not just a box anymore. It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re the building with the pelican on it.’”

This month, the historic Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro added a playful scene depicting underwater musicians to one of its exterior walls.

The artist, Kent Yoshimura, said he was fascinated by the idea that, in contrast to a gallery setting, countless passers-by would encounter the mural. At 111-feet by 55-feet, it can be seen from several blocks away.

“There is so much beauty in that open communication and that open relationship that artists can have with the public,” Mr. Yoshimura said. “I think it’s just fantastic.”

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Los Osos.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.